The Daytona 500 was on rain delay Sunday afternoon, but according to ESPNW, ESPN’s “voice for the woman who loves sports,” the race finished and the lone female racer, Danica Patrick, placed higher than any woman ever at the Daytona 500.
The problem: ESPNW’s Twitter account was reacting to FOX’s rerun of the Daytona 500 from 2013 to fill time while the race stalled due to rain, during Sunday’s Daytona 500.
The outlet’s tweets were deleted shortly after they ran, without any explanation.
And while one would expect ESPNW, an expert on women’s sports, to be on top of Patrick’s historic finish in 2013, the women-centric section of ESPN was not the only outlet to fall for FOX’s rerun of the 2013 race. A number of local stations and even Fox News’ Twitter account tweeted about the re-run.
Later in the afternoon NASCAR racer Jimmy Johnson, the 2013 Daytona 500 victor, got a good laugh about the confusion.
I hear I won the #Daytona500? Haha! I also have friends confused and texting congratulations to me. #2013Replay
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) February 23, 2014